Plea for stormwater speaker organization from Charles Baigh Oconee's Future
Citizens for Oconee's Future, Inc.
P. O. Box 1301
Watkinsville, GA 30677
Subject: Volunteers to speak at upcoming stormwater ordinance hearings
This message is going to those who have expressed an interest in county issues such as zoning and ordinances such as the Master Planned Development ordinance. The County will hold two public hearings on the proposed stormwater ordinance before approving it later in July. The first is a Planning Commission hearing June 19th at 7:00 PM. The second is a Board of Commissioners hearing on June 27th at 7:00 PM. Developers have worked their magic on the proposed ordinance by getting substantial penalties removed and by having the ordinance apply only to the bare minimum portion of the county. Portions of the county where substantial development is occurring are not included.
It is important the Board knows that citizens have an interest in maintaining a good quality of life and that clean water is a quality of life issue. They need to see citizens willing to come to a hearing and speak out! We need volunteers willing to speak at both the hearings. No long speech is necessary. One or two minutes with one or two points are enough. Please plan to speak at one or both the meetings. So that I can be sure we will have a good response, please let me know that you will speak. If anyone would like to have information or some talking points let me know. Just respond to this e mail or call me at 706-310-1580.
Charles Baugh
President
and this from a previous email from Lee Becker:
Citizens for Oconee's Future, Inc.
P. O. Box 1301
Watkinsville, GA 30677
Subject: Stormwater Ordinance, Message from Lee Becker, Friends of Barber Creek
Following is the text of an e mail message from Lee Becker with information about the upcoming approval of the updated Oconee County Stormwater Ordinance. Please go to the Oconee County web site and read the ordinance. Call, write or e mail BOC members about it and calendar the dates for attendance. It makes no sense to only apply this to the sections of the county where the water is already spoiled and allow the same substandard building methods in the rest of the county. We have a chance to do this right. It will only be done right if this BOC sees that someone other than builders are paying attention.
Charles Baugh
President
Dear Friends,
Two developments in recent days are of importance.
1. On Tuesday (June 6), in response to pressure from the citizens of Tanglebrook subdivision, the Board of Commissioners turned down a rezone request that would have allowed commercial development at the Tanglebrook Drive and Epps Bridge Parkway intersection. The Commissioners clearly felt the heat from the influential citizens of the county who live in that subdivision. The action indicates once again that the Board is sensitive to community pressure. (The planning staff had approved the project.)
2. The Athens Banner-Herald today (June 11) contained a story indicating that Barrow County is considering imposing stormwater fees. Barrow would be joining Athens-Clarke and other counties in using this method to provide funding for stormwater and water pollution management. Oconee County has rejected the stormwater fee approach. Either the county doesn't plan to enforce the ordinance it is about to pass, or it plans to fund enforcement through existing taxes. The advantage of a stormwater fee is that it can be based on the amount of runoff that a property produces and includes all property owners, including churches, governmental and educational institutions exempt from taxes.
I spent several hours today and yesterday rereading the proposed stormwater ordinance and comparing it with the earlier one. The difference is simple. Originally, the county planned to make all future developments in the count meet state standards for the control of stormwater runoff. Developers would have had to build retention facilities that would be designed to slow down the flow of water in heavy rains and to filter out pollutants. The new ordinance exempts all developments except in the already built-out part of the county, roughly north and east of the Oconee Connector. The county could impose requirements on new developments, but it wouldn't have to.
We have been told repeatedly that Barber Creek already is dirty. We also have been told much of the pollution comes from stormwater runoff, which has not been well controlled in the county in the past.
According to a story in the Banner-Herald, the Athens Area Home Builders Association likes the new ordinance. At least one developer, Abe Abouhamdan, spoke in favor of the tougher first proposal, however, at a meeting I attended in October.
Please plan to attend three important meetings in the next weeks:
On June 19, the Planning Commission will consider the ordinance.
On June 27 the Board of Commissioners will give the ordinance its first reading.
On July 6, the Board of Commissioners will give the ordinance its second and final reading.
Meetings for both groups start at 7 p.m. and are held at the courthouse.
Here are the names and email addresses of the five members of the Board of Commissioners:
Melvin Davis, mdavis@oconee.ga.us
Jim Luke, jluke@oconee.ga.us
Don Norris, dnorris@oconee.ga.us
Margaret Hale, mshale@oconee.ga.us
Chuck Norton, chorton@oconee.ga.us
The chairman of the planning commission is Dan Arnold. You could reach him at
Oconee County Planning Department
One North 3rd Street (Marable Building)
P.O. Box 145, Watkinsville, Georgia 30677
Contact Numbers:
Phone: (706) 769-3910
Fax: (706) 769-2901
Thanks
Lee
Becker
lbbecker@mindspring.com
P. O. Box 1301
Watkinsville, GA 30677
Subject: Volunteers to speak at upcoming stormwater ordinance hearings
This message is going to those who have expressed an interest in county issues such as zoning and ordinances such as the Master Planned Development ordinance. The County will hold two public hearings on the proposed stormwater ordinance before approving it later in July. The first is a Planning Commission hearing June 19th at 7:00 PM. The second is a Board of Commissioners hearing on June 27th at 7:00 PM. Developers have worked their magic on the proposed ordinance by getting substantial penalties removed and by having the ordinance apply only to the bare minimum portion of the county. Portions of the county where substantial development is occurring are not included.
It is important the Board knows that citizens have an interest in maintaining a good quality of life and that clean water is a quality of life issue. They need to see citizens willing to come to a hearing and speak out! We need volunteers willing to speak at both the hearings. No long speech is necessary. One or two minutes with one or two points are enough. Please plan to speak at one or both the meetings. So that I can be sure we will have a good response, please let me know that you will speak. If anyone would like to have information or some talking points let me know. Just respond to this e mail or call me at 706-310-1580.
Charles Baugh
President
and this from a previous email from Lee Becker:
Citizens for Oconee's Future, Inc.
P. O. Box 1301
Watkinsville, GA 30677
Subject: Stormwater Ordinance, Message from Lee Becker, Friends of Barber Creek
Following is the text of an e mail message from Lee Becker with information about the upcoming approval of the updated Oconee County Stormwater Ordinance. Please go to the Oconee County web site and read the ordinance. Call, write or e mail BOC members about it and calendar the dates for attendance. It makes no sense to only apply this to the sections of the county where the water is already spoiled and allow the same substandard building methods in the rest of the county. We have a chance to do this right. It will only be done right if this BOC sees that someone other than builders are paying attention.
Charles Baugh
President
Dear Friends,
Two developments in recent days are of importance.
1. On Tuesday (June 6), in response to pressure from the citizens of Tanglebrook subdivision, the Board of Commissioners turned down a rezone request that would have allowed commercial development at the Tanglebrook Drive and Epps Bridge Parkway intersection. The Commissioners clearly felt the heat from the influential citizens of the county who live in that subdivision. The action indicates once again that the Board is sensitive to community pressure. (The planning staff had approved the project.)
2. The Athens Banner-Herald today (June 11) contained a story indicating that Barrow County is considering imposing stormwater fees. Barrow would be joining Athens-Clarke and other counties in using this method to provide funding for stormwater and water pollution management. Oconee County has rejected the stormwater fee approach. Either the county doesn't plan to enforce the ordinance it is about to pass, or it plans to fund enforcement through existing taxes. The advantage of a stormwater fee is that it can be based on the amount of runoff that a property produces and includes all property owners, including churches, governmental and educational institutions exempt from taxes.
I spent several hours today and yesterday rereading the proposed stormwater ordinance and comparing it with the earlier one. The difference is simple. Originally, the county planned to make all future developments in the count meet state standards for the control of stormwater runoff. Developers would have had to build retention facilities that would be designed to slow down the flow of water in heavy rains and to filter out pollutants. The new ordinance exempts all developments except in the already built-out part of the county, roughly north and east of the Oconee Connector. The county could impose requirements on new developments, but it wouldn't have to.
We have been told repeatedly that Barber Creek already is dirty. We also have been told much of the pollution comes from stormwater runoff, which has not been well controlled in the county in the past.
According to a story in the Banner-Herald, the Athens Area Home Builders Association likes the new ordinance. At least one developer, Abe Abouhamdan, spoke in favor of the tougher first proposal, however, at a meeting I attended in October.
Please plan to attend three important meetings in the next weeks:
On June 19, the Planning Commission will consider the ordinance.
On June 27 the Board of Commissioners will give the ordinance its first reading.
On July 6, the Board of Commissioners will give the ordinance its second and final reading.
Meetings for both groups start at 7 p.m. and are held at the courthouse.
Here are the names and email addresses of the five members of the Board of Commissioners:
Melvin Davis, mdavis@oconee.ga.us
Jim Luke, jluke@oconee.ga.us
Don Norris, dnorris@oconee.ga.us
Margaret Hale, mshale@oconee.ga.us
Chuck Norton, chorton@oconee.ga.us
The chairman of the planning commission is Dan Arnold. You could reach him at
Oconee County Planning Department
One North 3rd Street (Marable Building)
P.O. Box 145, Watkinsville, Georgia 30677
Contact Numbers:
Phone: (706) 769-3910
Fax: (706) 769-2901
Thanks
Lee
Becker
lbbecker@mindspring.com
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